Kaleidoscope Australia Human Rights Foundation

Kaleidoscope Australia Human Rights Foundation

The KAHRF logo
Formation 16 September 2013 (2013-09-16)
Legal status Not-for-profit organisation
Purpose LGBTI rights
Region served
 Asia Pacific
President
 Paula Gerber
Website

Kaleidoscope Australia Human Rights Foundation (commonly known as "Kaleidoscope Australia" or KAHRF) is a non-governmental organisation in Australia focused on human rights of sexual and gender minorities in the Asia Pacific region. The stated objective of the organisation is "to promote human rights (as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations conventions and declarations) and particularly the rights and freedoms of those who face discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity".

Kaleidoscope Australia was founded originally in September 2013 and was inspired by The Kaleidoscope Trust in the UK. As of 2014 Paula Gerber, the deputy director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, has been the president. Michael Kirby is the patron.[1] [2]

Kaleidoscope Australia has a particular focus on submitting shadow reports to the UN Human Rights Committee and also to the UN Human Rights Council. The intention is to ensure that every national review by the Council and Committee includes an examination of the human rights of sexual and gender minorities as well as wider human rights issues. To date, shadow reports have been prepared for the Human Rights Committee on Nepal,[3] [4] Cambodia,[5] Japan,[6] and Sri Lanka.[7] The Melbourne offices of the law firm DLA Piper helped in the writing of these reports.

In addition shadow reports on the Marshall Islands,[8] Nauru, [9] Nepal, [10] Myanmar [11] and Micronesia [12] have all been submitted to the Human Rights Council for these countries' Universal Periodic Reviews.

It is still too early to examine how effective the submission of these reports has been as the review process is still ongoing for most of these countries and it often takes several years before reform processes role out in countries who have been assessed. However, there are promising indications that one of the first Shadow Reports on Sri Lanka may have spurred the government there to move its position.[13] [14]

Kaleidoscope Australia also keeps up lines of communication with the Australian government over issues relating to Australia's foreign relations with regional nations over their record on the human rights of sexual or gender minorities. During the election campaign in 2013, KAHRF ran a pledge campaign to get the political parties in Australia committed to LGBTI rights in foreign policy. They were successful in getting the Greens,[15] Labor [16][17] and the Liberal candidate in Melbourne Ports, Kevin Ekendahl, to sign the pledge. In November 2013, Kaleidoscope Australia was also one of almost 20 groups across the Commonwealth that participated in and helped publish the "Speaking Out" report on Homophobia in the Commonwealth that had been coordinated and compiled by the Kaleidoscope Trust.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Gay News Network, 17 October 2013: "Michael Kirby appointed as patron of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation"
  2. ↑ Gay Star News 15 October 2013: "Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby made patron of Kaleidoscope Trust Australia"
  3. ↑ Nepal Shadow Report
  4. ↑ Gaylaxy Magazine 2 March 2014: "Report On Queer Rights In Nepal Says Despite Advances, More Needs To Be Done"
  5. ↑ Shadow Report on Cambodia
  6. ↑ Japan Shadow Report
  7. ↑ Sri Lanka Shadow Report
  8. ↑ Marshall Islands Shadow Report
  9. ↑ Nauru Shadow Report
  10. ↑ Nepal Shadow Report
  11. ↑ Myanmar Shadow Report
  12. ↑ Micronesia Shadow Report
  13. ↑ "The Sunday Leader" 26th October 2014
  14. ↑ "The Colombo Gazette" 22nd January 2015
  15. ↑ Star Observer, August 15 2013 "Greens leader Milne signs LGBTI rights pledge"
  16. ↑ Star Observer 29 August 2013 "Carr commits Labor to LGBTI rights"
  17. ↑ Pink News 27 August 2013 "Kaleidoscope Trust welcomes Australian Foreign Minister's LGBT rights pledge"
  18. ↑ The Guardian 11 November 2013 "Homosexuality illegal in 41 out of 53 Commonwealth countries report"

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 24, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.